This Buffy Character Was Supposed To Be Black, But The Network Said NO!

For longtime Buffy The Vampire Slayer fans, it’s basically impossible to imagine anyone other than Charisma Carpenter playing Cordelia Chase, the mean girl queen bee turned crusader against evil. But if creator Joss Whedon had his way, that’s exactly what would have happened.

Why? Because Cordelia was originally conceived as a Black woman.

As momentum in the fight against systemic racism grows, more and more is being unveiled about the role it has continued to play in the entertainment industry. But this hidden bit of exclusion by execs was actually revealed YEARS ago.

Entertainment site Screen Rant unearthed a quote from Slayers and Vampires: The Complete Uncensored, Unauthorized Oral History of Buffy & Angel by Edward Gross and Mark A. Altman, originally published all the way back in 1999, at the height of Buffy fever.

Whedon’s personal assistant at the time, George Snyder, revealed the showrunner’s original plan — and the disgusting racism at The WB which derailed it:

“Originally, Joss was looking for a black actress for the role of Cordelia. But one of the stumbling blocks there was the way we knew Joss anticipated the relationships shifting and changing. There was some concern at the network at the time that interracial relationships would be problematic. At that point, the WB was a different kind of network.”

Wow. It’s OK for a lead character to be black — but not if she’s going to be mixing with the white characters?! That’s honestly more grotesque than anything Buffy Summers ever had to fight.

Unfortunately Whedon didn’t think he had the power to fight the network down the line — as he already had his second season love triangle with Cordelia, Xander, and Willow planned:

“I know that came up and Joss said, ‘I can’t have restraints on how I mix and match the dynamics. That’s part of the fun of the show, that Willow is in love with Xander, Xander is in love with Buffy, Cordelia can’t stand any of them yet finds herself drawn to Xander.’ Joss decided it wasn’t worth fighting that fight at that particular time, but he didn’t want to be hindered in the dynamic of the shifting triangles.”

However, after the show became a hit Whedon did make a point of adding interracial relationships to the show. In Season 4, Giles’ old flame Olivia Williams, played by Phina Oruche, showed up and rekindled their fling. And in the final season Faith ends up in her most lasting relationship with Robin Wood, played by D.B. Woodside.

So at least that’s… something.

Look, we all know the ’90s were a time when there was a severe drought of diversity on TV. It’s actually nice to actually find out WHY. Now if we could only figure out which executives pushed these agendas…

[Image via 20th Television/YouTube.]